Prom 56 (25.8.12): Goehr, Knussen, Grime & Debussy

[Roehre]

It's an old Ollie Knussen party trick, might have been something wrong there, sure we could do it better, we'll play it again just to make sure...
He's done this with the Stravinsky "Huxley" Variations......

I recall at least two occasions, of which one in Amsterdam with the Concertgebouw orchestra (as far back as 1981).
Michael Tilson Thomas sometimes does this as well.

[Roehre]

Like visiting Scotland? I don't think so, somehow.

V S

Your loss, I'm sure.

[Boilk]

... growing in excitement before climaxing in those whooping horns that may again bring Tippett to mind...

Those whooping horns sound uncannily like humpback whales too - their upward glissandi can morph into arpeggios. I've heard whales doing major arpeggios with a flattened seventh (i.e. part of the harmonic series), which is what we get in the Knussen (at about 42' on Listen Again).

[bluestateprommer]

Presumably RW feels that if sufficient other Proms sell well/sell out, he can afford to let Oliver Knussen have his "party" with his annual Prom, which is always intelligently thought out and imaginative, and thus correspondingly has a smaller audience, as Martin Kettle noted in his Guardian review:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012...-bbcso-knussen

'......sadly, all too often, attendance is small but select. "No one empties a hall quite like Olly," one of his admirers admitted on Saturday. But some of the giants of Knussen's generation were there all the same.

And one more thing – the Olly Prom is always a big musical learning experience in a way few concerts are. Knussen doesn't just conduct his own concerts; he curates them, too. There's a real sense of them reflecting his formidable mind and his interests. It's impossible not to be drawn in. Not enough people come. But I bet none of them leave early.'

It sounded excellent on iPlayer, and I heartily concur with the warm sound OK conjured in particular in the Debussy. Nice also that Alexander Goehr was present to take a bow after his Metamorphosis/Dance.

Why exactly did we hear the Helen Grime work twice?

Not that I am complaining. Pieces always come out much better (and apparently shorter) at second hearing.

OK used a tale of his glasses not being quite where they should have been as the "excuse" for giving the Helen Grime a second go. I assume that the BBC SO and RW were aware in advance that OK would do this, in the same way that they are informed in advance of any planned encores by visiting artists.

Hearing this performance makes it the more disappointing that OK didn't get to Santa Fe this summer for the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, as originally intended. He would have conducted his own Songs for Sue and the Alban Berg Chamber Concerto, but subs had to be called in. I asked someone connected to the Festival what happened, and the official explanation that I got was that OK had an attack of gout. For those at the RAH, how did he seem, walking to the podium, and his general manner? If there were no signs of ill health, one then wonders. It's perfectly understandable if he decided that a trans-Atlantic trip was too much to handle, but then I don't know how much international travel he does these days.

[Belgrove]

For those at the RAH, how did he seem, walking to the podium, and his general manner?

He did not look especially agile coming onto and off of the platform. He sat at the podium. His conducting style was understated elegance, being precise, clear and economical of gesture.

The rigours of a long-haul flight are arduous enough young and fit, let alone all the protracted business that attends getting on and off the plane.